The End of Death and Strawberry
by Between The Clouds
Summary: Not all soulmates are meant to last a lifetime. Ichigo/Rukia
1. Time to Say Goodbye

The End of Death and Strawberry

Another war was over. Another goodbye. She stood in front of him at the gates of Seireitei, giving him a small smirk.

"Take care of the human world for us, okay? Don't go screwing things up."

He stared into her, looking so much older than his seventeen years. "Rukia."

"And take care of your dad, wherever he ran off to. He needs you. And Yuzu and Karin must be growing up…"

"Rukia."

"…And Inoue and Ishida and Sado. Make sure they grow to their fullest potential. I won't let—"

Ichigo muffled the rest of her sentence by enveloping her small body in his Shinigami robes. He didn't need to say anything. Words would erode it. They stood there, him breathing in her hair and her breathing in his skin.

She realized this was the only time they had ever hugged. After all these years.

When she could breathe the air again, Rukia had tears in her violet eyes. She blinked them away in the next second and gave him that special Ichigo smirk again. "You know, I'm actually due for a vacation right about now. Know any closets available?"

It was his turn to smirk. "Just one bunny drawing and I'm kicking you out."

She didn't stay in his closet.

* * *

You would expect them to be more chaste. For people who took years to even hug, they wasted surprisingly little time in ripping each other's clothes off.

"It's the after-war effect," Rukia giggled one night, drawing circles on Ichigo's bare chest afterwards. "Everybody has all these hormones after a long and disastrous battle, and they need to find a way to get rid of all the tension. It's why there are so many babies after a big war."

He laughed. "This is different. Some parts of me wanted this even back when I kicked you that first night."

"Really? I just thought you were impulsive and foolish."

"What was that?" Ichigo climbed on top of her and pinned her wrists at the sides of her head. "Wanna say that again?"

"I'll never give you the satisfaction!"

From downstairs, Yuzu and Karin heard bickering, then what sounded like moving furniture, and finally thumping and loud moaning. "Ichigo!" Rukia could be heard crying out from his bedroom.

His sisters exchanged glances and blushed. Not that it was anything new. Ichigo and Rukia's bedroom escapades were par for the course in those weeks.

But, like all things, those weeks came to an end with alarming speed.

* * *

Rukia watched Ichigo put on his pants one morning for school. "I have to go back to work," she mentioned. It was meant to come off as a casual observation, but it silenced the room.

Ichigo came over to the bed and brushed the disobedient strand of hair out of her eyes. "I'm sure it can wait a few more days. They're probably just focusing on rebuilding Seireitei right now. I'm sure the—"

"I can't be Isshin," she blurted out. And there it was.

"I'm a Shinigami. I walk among souls. I have an entire life there. And you're _alive_. Even if there was some way you could be a Shinigami in Seireitei, how could I ask you to give up your entire world?"

Ichigo gritted his teeth. "There has to be a way."

"Yes, if I were willing to be stripped of my vice-captain ranking in the Gotei 13 and my royal family. Do you think I, a Kuchiki, could do that?"

"So, what, are we just gonna give up and pretend we never meant anything to each other?" he asked, looking more and more pissed off as Rukia continued.

Instead of answering his question, Rukia took his hand and whispered into is ear. "Shower with me."

And all thoughts of school were forgotten.

He held her up against the shower wall, her legs wrapped around his waist. Their foreheads touched as the water fell on their skin, creating streams and rivers down their limbs. Rukia held Ichigo's neck and kept her eyes closed, taking him one last time.

When it was over, they stayed. Their tired souls let out a final gasping breath.

When all else is forgotten, they will always have the memories in the rain.

* * *

 **Disclaimer:** If I owned Bleach, the ending would be very different.

 **Author's Note:** I don't want to go on a rant here, but I honestly just don't understand. If Kubo really wanted Ichigo with Orihime, why did he create all those Ichigo/Rukia moments? Even the last chapter just felt Ichiruki. Nothing makes sense, and we're all hurting a bit. So here's something to either ease the pain or make it hurt more!


	2. Death Meets Strawberry Again

It took them three hundred and seventy-eight years to come back to each other.

Oh, there were close calls over the years. When Ichigo died the "first" time, he was eighty-four years old. He never stopped training, but human bodies have their limits, and he was unable to fight the way he used to. When he was dropped in Rukongai, he trained hard to become a Shinigami. He had been out of touch with the Seireitei for so long that by the time he entered Shinigami academy, the instructors did not connect the legend Ichigo Kurosaki with the weakened old man standing on front of them.

But eventually the captain of the 13th squad heard the rumours, and she resolved to go to the academy the next day to see if it was the Ichigo she once knew.

She died in battle with Fullbringer invaders that night.

The second time occurred one hundred and two years later. Jun Arakida was a new Shinigami on a mission to the human world. His soul was once Ichigo Kurosaki's all those lifetimes ago. He was on a simple mission to kill a few hollows and return to the Seireitei. He stopped outside a ramen shop to track an especially dangerous hollow, lost in concentration.

It was broken when three kids walked out, two little girls and a boy. Jun couldn't put a finger on it, but he was inextricably drawn to them. They waved goodbye to "Grandma Eiko". The name wasn't familiar, but he found himself about to walk into the shop. Somehow, he knew that the woman inside was the soul connected to his.

Before he was able to put his hand on the door, the hollow jumped in front of him and swung down. He almost didn't make it out alive.

The third time was only a few short breaths of air. Three year old Daichi stood on as chair in the hospital waiting room, trying to see around the corner. His mom's best friend was giving birth. Neither of the women had any idea why Daichi was so interested in this particular baby, as he never gave the other babies around a second thought. But they giggled to themselves that maybe someday, when Daichi and the baby girl were all grown up…

Daichi's mom came out of the delivery room and shook her head when the little boy ran up. She explained that the baby didn't make it; she was alive for only a couple of minutes. There was nothing the doctors could do.

He couldn't explain it, but he felt something was missing for the rest of his life.

But they couldn't be apart forever. History eventually repeats itself, even if you have to wait a few centuries.

Ryoko Katsuragi was walking home from school, keeping a brisk pace so that her bare legs wouldn't have to suffer the biting January weather for much longer. Although it was cold and it hurt, a part of her liked the icy feeling of winter on her skin. It gave her a sense of clarity that nothing else could.

As she hurried across the soccer field, she was suddenly thrown back by a powerful wind. She landed on her back and was left gasping for air, the wind knocked out of her. The girl looked up at the sky, searching for the cause. She couldn't see, but she could feel it. Its energy was suffocating. Squinting as hard as she could, she could make out a faint outline of a monster coming down at her. It was dark and looked vaguely like hundreds of people were melted together to create this form. Her ears didn't pick up the monster's wails, but the pulsing in her heart matched the rhythm perfectly.

It wasn't the first time she encountered one of these things. But before, it was always in the space between sleep and consciousness. She could always attribute it to her imagination.

But never before had her imagination ripped and bloodied her face.

Before Ryoko could roll out of the way, the monster flew down and slashed her head and the right side of her face. Deep scratches formed on either side of her violet eye, blood beginning to spurt from her wounds. She was dazed from the attack, but it was coming at her again. This time she was able to roll away before it slashed her stomach.

She managed to stand, her legs shaky and almost collapsing underneath her. Ryoko wasn't going to give up that easily. She grit her teeth and ran away. If she could only make it to the street…

She only made it to the toolshed before she was knocked down again. This time her left leg started bleeding. It hovered above her, waiting. Ryoko couldn't make out its facial features, but she knew it was laughing, taunting her. Knowing she couldn't stand up.

It might be right, but she still had full use of her arms. She reached up and broke off an icicle from the toolshed's roof. Gauging where the monster's eyes probably were, she aimed and hurled it as hard as she could. She didn't expect it to do much damage, but the monster wailed in pain. This time she heard it.

Wasting no time, Ryoko broke off every icicle from the roof in rapid fire movements, throwing them at the monster with no recovery time in between. "Die!" The monster started bleeding, the icicles searing holes into its flesh.

She knew it was only a distraction. The icicles had to run out eventually.

When she was thrown into the toolshed yet again, she was hardly surprised. She lay limp in the snow, her blood tainting the pure ice crystals. She slowed her breathing, then stopped it completely. Waiting for a distraction.

She got it moments later, the monster turning to look at a crowd of girls walking through the field on their way home from school. She cracked one eye open. The girls didn't notice anything wrong. They wouldn't be able to defend themselves.

As the monster slowly stalked the group of girls, Ryoko sat up, careful not to make a noise. She had to do this right. If anybody was going to fight this thing, it had to be her. She watched as it descended upon the girls, concentrating all her power into her hands. Maybe she could find something else to throw.

At the same moment the girls were tossed to the icy ground like ragdolls, Ryoko stared at her hands. Her eyes opened wide. A small energy ball was forming from her palms. "What the-" she muttered under her breath. Her eyes traveled back to the girls. They were screaming now. One was being dragged by that blurry form.

Ryoko held her breathe. Just a few more seconds… When the energy ball was big enough to cause some damage, she threw it at the monster with all the strength she had. "I'm not done with you yet!" she shouted. It wailed again, a huge gaping hole taking out its shoulder-like thing.

Before she even had time to celebrate, it came towards her again. Shit. There was no time to create another ball. She gulped as it ran (or flew?) towards her.

"I'm gonna kill you, bastard!" Ryoko stared wide-eyed as an orange-haired guy jumped down from the sky, slashing the monster with a giant sword. When he landed on the ground, it was his turn to be shocked. "You've already been injured? How?" He turned to Ryoko and looked at her for the first time. "You did this?"

"Y-yes," she answered. "But I don't know how…"

The guy grinned. "That's awesome!" he shouted as he went back to fight the monster thing. As he dodged an attack, he laughed. "I can't believe a midget like you has that kind of power! Help me out here, would you?"

She glared. "What did you just call me?"

"Use that anger to create another attack! If you attack him at the same time I slice him, we can defeat this hollow!"

She wanted to shout back, but this was no time to argue. Ryoko did as she was asked, forming an energy ball even larger than the one before. She locked eyes with the strange guy and she threw it just as he sliced the thing's head open. With one final wail, the monster crashed down, defeated.

He turned to her and finally noticed her injuries. Picking her up, he ran to the street, presumably in search of first aid.

"I don't need to be picked up," she yelled, pounding his back with her tiny fists. "Put me down right now!"

He looked over his shoulder at her scowling face and grinned. "Well, if you're gonna be like that…" he replied, dropping her to the ground.

"Ouch…" Ryoko rubbed her head. "Who are you anyway?"

"Ichiro Kurosawa!" he announced. "A human with powers." He held out his hand.

"I'm Ryoko Katsuragi," she let out a small smile. "A human with powers too, I guess."

And their souls returned to each other.


End file.
